Elevator-gate mechanism



Feb. 19, 1924.

w. A. DAVIS ELEVATOR GATE MECHANISM Fil ed 0012. 11 1919 2 Sheets-Sheetl Feb. 19, 1924.

1,483,871 w. .A. DAVIS ELEVATOR GATE MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I .70 wv 0. "i "\v/l x Patented Feb. 19, 1924.

UNITED STATES A 1,483,871 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. DAVIS, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO BABCOCK-DAVISCOR- PORATION, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ELEVATOR-GATE MECHANISM.

Application filed October 11, 1919. Serial No. 330,114.

"To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM A. DAVIS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Malden, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inElevator-Gate Mechanisms; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as y willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

The present invention relates to elevator gate mechanisms and moreparticularly to gate mechanisms of this character employed in connectionwith freight elevators.

The construction of gate mechanism ordinarily employed for guarding theopenings of freight elevators, more particularly those of largecapacity, comprises a vertically sliding two-part gate. When thegateisopened one ,part is raised above the door opening and the other part islowered below the door opening in such a manner that the upper edge ofthe lower half is substantially flush with the floor level.

i/Vith this construction, when freight is trucked or vehicles are movedfrom the elevator to the building floor or vice versa, the wheels passover and are supported by the lower half of the gate, and accordinglyone object of the invention is to improve the construction of elevatorgate mechanisms of this character in such a manner that the lower halfof the gate is rigidly located in a fixed position when the gate isopened to afford a solid bridge over which the wheels of a truck orvehicle may pass.

With this object in view onefeature of the invention contemplates theprovision in a construction of this character of gate supporting memberspositioned upon opposite sides of the gate and extending throughout thelength of the opening, these supporting members having inclined faceswhich are adapted to receive and cooperate with correspondingly inclinedfaces formed upon the top portion of the lower half of the gate torigidly support the gate in a predetermined position with respect to thefloor.

'In the simplest and most efficient form of the invention which hasyetbeen devised,

one of the gate supporting members is formed as apart of the floor andthe cooperating supporting member is in the form of an auxiliarythreshold spaced away from the edge of the floor to allow passage of thegate therebetween and bridging the opening between the top of the gateand the adjacent edge of the elevator car.

In constructions of-this type the gates constitute not only a. guard forthe elevator opening but a the door which prevents the ingress or egressof air drafts to and from the elevator shaft when the opening is closed.It is consequently necessary that the doors shall be of substantial sizeand weight in order to accomplish the desired result.

It is another feature of the present invention to provide auxiliarygates which are operated during the use of the elevator and which slideinside of the heavy firedoors thus dispensing with the necessity ofopening and closing the fire doors during the continued operation of theelevator.

Still further features of the invention consist in certain novelfeatures of construction, combinations and arrangements of partshereinafter described and claimed, the advantages of which will beobvious to those skilled in the art from the following description. m IA I In the accompany ng drawings illustrat ing the preferred form of theinvention, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an elevator shaftembodying the improved gate mechanism; Figs. 2 and 3 are sectionalelevations illustrating the position of the twopart sliding fire doorswhen opened and closed; Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating themanner inwhich the lower half of the sliding gate is supported upon oppositesides, this figure illustrating a construction in which the two halvesof the sliding gate are offset with relation to one another ;Fig. 5 is aview similar to Fig. 4, illustrating a construction in which the twohalves of the gate mechanism slide in alinement with one another; Fig. 6is a detail illustrating a section in plan of the ways for guidingtwoparts of the the door gate whenthe two parts of the fire door areoffset, as shown in Fi 4; and Fig. 7 is a similar view illustrating theconstruction when the two parts of the door are respectively located inalignment, as shown in Fig. 5.

The gate mechanism, shown in the illustrated embodiment, of theinvention comprisesv a two-part sliding gate having the I I may beconstructed in the usual. n'ianne'r so that when closed, as shown inFig. 1, they completely close the elevator opening and prevent theentrance .orexit of tire. These doors are normally locked in closedposition by a latch 13 pivoted upon the uppel halt of the door at 14cand having a lower intnrned end 16 adapted to engage beneath a shoulderformed upon the lower half of the door 10. This latch is mountedupoi'ithe inside of the doors adjacent the elevator shaft so that it isaccessible only to the operator. The two halves of the doors areconnected in the usual manner through cables 18 passing over pulleys 19which cause the two halves to move in opposite directions to open andclose the door. W hen the main gate is closed a tongue 20 formed uponthe lower face of the part 11 is seated in a corresponding 'groove 21formed in the upper face of the part 10 to prevent any circulation ofairbetween the two halves of the gate. Inaddition, the lower part 10 of thegateis provided with a projecting ledge 22 which closes the spacebetween the edge of the gate and the floor threshold when the gate isclosed.

l Vhen the two halves of the gate are separated to uncover the elevatoropening, the lower haltv oi the gate is rigidly supported upon oppositesides by supporting members 25 and 26 respectively. The stniportinginemloer 25 may preferably take the form of an angle iron secured to thefloor. adjacent the elevator well, and the support 26 is preferably inthe form of a channel beam28 extending across the elevator openingbetween the permanent floor and the car and rigidly secured atitsopposite ends in any suitable manner. This channel beamis providediith an angle iron 29 mounted upon the'top, as shown in the drawings.The two supporting members 25 and 26 are provided with oppositelyinclined faces 30 and 31 which receive correspondingly inclined facesformed upon a 'bar 32 secured to the top of the part. 10 of the door.hen the two parts of the. sliding door are mounted in alignii'ient withone another, this bar 32 may have the form shown in Fig. 5, whereas whenthe two parts are offset with relation to one another the bar may takethe form shown in Fig. 4-. In the first instance the bar is supported ontop of a single angle iron 33 secured tothe door, whereas in the secondinstance a -pair of such angle irons S5 and 86 are provided as shown inFig. i. In either case the bar is provided with depending ledges 38which embrace the angle iron and serve to locate the bar in the properposition relativeto the door. y I l Vith this construction it will'beobserved a substantially continuous floor, free fro projections,isprovided fromthe edge of the support 26 on to the permanent floor ofthe building so that a truck or vehicle may be transported from thefloor of the car, indicated at 40, across the auxiliary threshold 26,the top of the gate 32 on to the floor 25. The provisibn ofthe inclinedfaces upon the supporting iiiembers between which the door is receivedconstitutes an important feature of the present invention as thesesurfaces cause the door to be held rigidly from sidewise movements whena vehicle passes thereover, and at the same time, prevent the lodgementof dirt or other foreign material which would prevent the proper seatingof the door. It willbe observed from an inspection of Figs. .4 and 5 ofthe drawings that the depending ledges are provided with straight faceswhich engage between corre-' spondingly shaped walls formed upon theopposite supports and serve to rigidly brace the door against sid'ewisemovements. Upon referring to Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings whichillustrate the sections in plan of a portion of the gate mechanism,willbe seen the method of guiding thetwo parts of the gate when theseparts are offset and in alignment respectively. As shown in bothconstructions, a T-shaped beam a2 is mounted vertically at the sidev ofthe opening and in the construction shown in Fig. 6 has a U-shapedchannel bar 43 and an angle bar a l secured thereto which constituteguides for angle bars 45 and 46 secured to the edges of the parts 10 and11. As shown in Fig. 7, the single angle bar l? is secured to the T-beam42 and forms a guide for angle bars l8 secured to both halves of thedoor. The two halves of the door may be offset with relation to oneanother when the height be tween the floors of the building isinsufficient to permit doors upon adjacent floors to be opened at thesame time. In case the height between the floors is sutiicient for thi'spurpose the two halves of the door may be supported in alignment.

According to the present invention the heavy fire doors are opened inthe morning at the beginning of the days work and closed at "night, theelevator openings being guarded in the meantime by light auxiliary gateswhich are operated by the movement of the elevator car. This featureavoids the wear and tear incident to the raising and lowering of theheavy doors, as is now the case in existing constructions. Uponreference to the drawings it will be observed that a pair of light gates50 and 51 are located within each elevator opening inside of the maindoors, the lower gate of each pair when closed resting upon the top ofthe auxiliary threshold '26. These gates uard the entire elevatoropening and slide in ays forme d'by a vertical channel 53and a co=operating T-beam 54, shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The gates are connectedwith the ole: vator car in the usualinanner so that when the carapproaches the floor the gates are raised automatically and when the carleaves the floor the gates are allowed to drop either by gravity orthrough the medium of the car itself. Inasmuch as this operatingconnection is old and well known in the art, it is not herein shown; :Ifdesired, the auxiliary gates may be separated from the elevator shaft bya partition 56.

It will be observed that with this construction the fire doorsarenormally opened and closed only once during each twentyfour hours,the auxiliary gates in the meantime serve to protect the opening. Thisfeature is of great importance especially in those buildings having.large elevator opening necessitating large and heavy doors.

While it is preferred to employ the specific construction andarrangements of parts shown and described, it will be understood thatthis construction and arrangement is not essential except so far asspecified in the claims, and may be changed or modi fied withoutdeparting from the broader features of the invention.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

1. An elevator gate mechanism comprising a two-part vertically slidingdoor at one side of the elevator well, the lower part being adapted tohave the top edge flush with the floor level when the door is open, andtwo supporting members for the lower part of the door positioned uponopposite sides of the door and extending throughout the width of thedoor opening, the supporting members having inclined faces which areadapted to receive and rigidly support correspondingly inclined facesformed upon the upper portion of the lower door section to rigidlysupport the section in a predetermined position with the upper edgeflush with the tops of the supporting members.

2. An elevator gate mechanism comprising a two-part sliding gate, anangle bar secured to the threshold of the building fioor adjacent thegate and having an inclined face, an auxiliary threshold extendingacross the elevator opening and spaced away from the edge of thebuilding floor to permit the passage of the gate therebetween, theauxiliary threshold bridging the space between the top of the gate andthe floor of the elevator car and having a face inclined oppositely tothat of the angle bar, and a bar supported upon the top of the lowerpart of the gate and having oppositely inclined faces adapted to bereceived between and cooperate with the inclined faces formedrespectively upon the angle bar and auxiliary threshold to form a rigidbridge between the auxiliary threshold and building floor.

3. The combination with a vertical elevator shaft having an openingextending thereinto above a building floor of a two part fire doorsliding vertically within the opening at one side of the elevator shaft,means for rigidly supporting the lower partof the door when the latteris open with the upper edge substantially flush with the building floor,a light auxiliary gate located between the fire door and elevator shaft,and guide members for causing the auxiliary gate to move vertically.

4. An elevator gate mechanism comprising a two-part sliding door, anangle bar secured to the threshold of the building floor adjacent thedoor and having an inclined face, an eye beam extending across theelevator opening and spaced away from the edge of the building floor topermit passage of the door therebetween, an auxiliary threshold mountedupon the eye beam and bridging the space between the top of the door andthe floor of the elevator car and having a face inclined oppositely tothat of the angle bar, and a grooved bar supported upon the top part ofthe lower door section and having oppositely inclined faces adapted tobe inserted between and cooperate with the inclined faces formedrespectively upon the angle bar and auxiliary threshold to form a rigidbridge between the auxiliary threshold and building floor.

5. The combination with a vertical elevator shaft having an openingextending thereinto from above a building floor of an auxiliarythreshold extending across the opening at substantially the level of thebuilding floor and spaced therefrom to permit a sliding door to bereceived between the threshold and edge of the building floor, a twopart vertically sliding door, the lower part being adapted to have thetop edge substantially flush with the floor level when the door is open,and means for rigidly supporting the lower part of the sliding door fromthe auxiliary threshold when the door is open with the topedge of thelower partsubstantially flush with the building floor whereby a rigidand continuous bridge is provided between the elevatorcal and thebuilding floor.

WILLIAM DAVIS:

